It was nearly three years ago, in August 2015, when Abner Mares and Leo Santa Cruz tangled in a featherweight title fight at Staples Center.

Santa Cruz won a majority decision over Mares, who admittedly had become big-headed and wanted only to march to the beat of his own drummer.

Mares ignored the game plan implemented by then-trainer Clemente Medina, so shame on Mares. But one lives and learns, and Mares on Saturday will march into the ring at Staples Center for the rematch (on Showtime) with Robert Garcia – a trainer he can’t boss around.

To Santa Cruz, this gives Mares the ability to truly be all he can be. And the champion from Lincoln Heights would not want it any other way.

“He looks good,” Santa Cruz said. “He fights differently. He has Robert Garcia as his trainer. Robert Garcia is a great trainer; very smart and driven. He knows how to send a fighter to fight.

“I have seen him and you could see in his training that he is working really hard. But we like that. We like that because he’s going to come in at his best and we’re going to give a better fight.”

Mares has had two fights with Garcia. He took a piece of the featherweight title with a split decision over Jesus Cuellar in December 2016, and looked good doing it. He defended that belt with a 10-round technical decision over Andres Gutierrez in October.

Santa Cruz has had four fights since defeating Mares. He stopped Kiko Martinez in the fifth round, lost his title to Carl Frampton via majority decision, won it back from Frampton the same way and then stopped Chris Avalos in the eighth round on the same October card as when Mares defeated Gutierrez.

Mares believes he and Santa Cruz have improved since their first fight. If that’s the case, we could be in for a terrific rematch.

“I’m not going to focus on the first fight,” the Hawaiian Gardens fighter said. “It happened already. That’s in the past. It was a great fight and now we’re moving forward.

“I think Leo brought up a good point, a really awesome point – I think that we’re both better fighters now. I’ve grown as a fighter. I’ve learned so much with Robert. And with the two Frampton fights, he has, too. I think he’s grown as an athlete.”

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Mares has said that he made the mistake in the first fight of doing all he could to knock out Santa Cruz, instead of following directions that could have given him that result had he trusted the process.

But when two Mexicans are embroiled in a world championship fight that also includes local bragging rights, typically that means there will be a lot of toe-to-toe exchanges.

Mares vows to do exactly as Garcia says.

“Our focus isn’t on looking for a stoppage,” Mares said. “That was my mistake the first fight. I tried to destroy him. I’m going to follow instructions and show I’m the better fighter in there.”

Santa Cruz isn’t too sure that any plan will be followed once the bell rings.

“He says he’s going to box me more this time, but it’s easier to say that than do it,” Santa Cruz said. “When you get in the ring and hear the fans, they make you want to brawl. Once you hear the crowd, you want to entertain them. You love to hear the people scream.”

Garcia recently told yours truly that Mares wants this victory badly. Mares promises to give every ounce of himself to get it.

“I’m going to fight my heart out and win this fight this time,” he said.

Santa Cruz has continued to watch his father/trainer Jose deal with pain from his spinal cancer, even though the elder Santa Cruz has made great strides in his battle.

Indeed, there is plenty of emotion tied up in this.

“Abner Mares is a great guy, but I have to beat him,” Santa Cruz said. “We have to fight for our family and we have to live for our future.”

Golovkin stripped

The IBF this week made good on its threat to strip middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin of its belt for failing to sign to fight top contender Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

There’s more. As we know, negotiations for Golovkin’s proposed Sept. 15 rematch with Canelo Alvarez have hit a snag. Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Alvarez, offered a 65-35 split in favor of Alvarez after Alvarez took a 70-30 split for their first fight in September, which ended in a split draw.

Golovkin initially agreed to the 65-35 for the rematch, but that was before Alvarez botched the original May 5 fight date by testing positive for clenbuterol and getting suspended for six months. When Golovkin learned he could be stripped of the IBF title if he signed to fight Alvarez again, Golovkin demanded 50-50. That had Golden Boy president Eric Gomez saying the fight was dead. His boss, Oscar De La Hoya, reiterated that this week.

However, remember in this space a week ago when it was suggested the two sides meet in the middle, with Alvarez getting the best of a 55-45 split? Well, now the the sides are apparently entertaining that idea.